Wednesday, June 21, 2017

pbs |"Why should we not form a secret society with but one
object, the furtherance of the British Empire and the bringing of the
whole world under British rule, for the recovery of the United States,
for making the Anglo Saxon race but one Empire? What a dream, but yet
it is probable, it is possible." Cecil Rhodes wrote this in his
"Confession of Faith" when he was 23. It provides an insight into his
insurmountable belief that with willpower and application anything was
possible. Circumstances prevented Rhodes from taking a global stage, so
he made southern Africa his stamping ground, planting it with Union
Jacks and settlers of British stock.

Rhodes plans for the advancement of British interests in southern Africa
were made possible by his vast wealth. He had come by his fortune
through his precocious activities as a diamond miner and entrepreneur.
Rhodes had taken over his brother Herbert's three claims in the de Beers
mine in Kimberley when he was 17. He proved an outstanding businessman
and in 1872 when the other miners felt they had hit rock bottom and
there were no further diamonds to mine, Rhodes purchased as many claims
from despairing miners as he could in the Kimberley mines. Such bold
decisions were to become his hallmark. He was not frightened to buck
the trend and he believed that there were more diamonds as they were
forced up from below. His gamble paid off.

Rhodes' mines went from strength to strength and in 1888, through a
combination of persuasion, bullying and sharp business practice he
convinced the owners of the other Kimberley mining companies to
amalgamate and form Rhodes De Beers Consolidated Mines. It was the
leading diamond company in the world, owning all the South African mines
and thus 90% of global diamond production. This added to the major
share Rhodes had acquired in the gold industry after the Witwatersrand
gold strike in Transvaal in 1886.

Such wealth was the means to a glorious end for
Rhodes. In 1881 he became a member of the Cape Parliament. Rhodes had
stated, "Africa is still lying ready for us. It is our duty to take
it." By 1890 he was Prime Minister of Cape Colony and his ambitions for
the Anglo Saxon rule of southern Africa had moved towards Zambesia.
Rhodes' British South Africa Company obtained mining ad farming rights
in Mashonaland, having successfully duped the Matabele King, Lobengula.
By 1896 Rhodes' company forces had put down all resistance to his
advances and a new addition to the British Empire was aptly named
Rhodesia after its founder.

The only stumbling block to Rhodes' dream of British supremacy in South
Africa was the protectionist Boer Republic of Transvaal. Following the
discovery of a vast gold reef on the Witwatersrand Transvaal was
becoming increasingly wealthy and powerful. Rhodes answer to this
problem was a coup de main in which Rhodesian and Bechuanaland
gendarmerie would enter Transvaal in support of an uitlander uprising in
Johannesburg. What became known as the Jameson Raid was botched from
the start and the raiders were easily intercepted and captured by the
Boers. Rhodes' shady part in the fiasco led to his retirement from
public life. The ramifications of the raid were far reaching as it was
seen as the first round of a contest between Britain and Transvaal,
which ultimately culminated in the Boer War between 1899 and 1902.

Rhodes death led to prolonged mourning. He was ruthless, amoral and
instinctively acquisitive yet he had single-mindedly followed his plan
"to make the world English." He had added Northern and Southern
Rhodesia to the Empire and he was a truly useful instrument for the
preservation and extension of Britain's influence in southern Africa at a
time when it was in jeopardy. "So little done. So much to do," were
the words falsely attributed as Rhodes last. However, the sentiments
were entirely appropriate to this most resourceful and visionary icon of
Empire.